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Cy writes....

I'm just back after a couple of weeks off, some of which involved a return to Morzine, 19 years (!) after the last time I went. Now I have a confession to make: I don't like bike park riding. There. I said it.

Note I said "riding". I like bike parks enormously. I recognise what they do for the sport, and zipping up hills or mountains on uplifts - be it chairlift or land rover and trailer - to bomb down again is marvellous. The accessibility they give our sport is fantastic. The well built and maintained greens above Avoriaz finally had me riding with my family in a way in which we could all share the buzz or riding bikes offroad, and they got a window into what I love about doing this. It was magic.

However, elsewhere in the valley, riding on my own, I had to admit something to myself and my ego - I don't like bikepark style riding and I am a blue level bikepark rider at best.

Trumpet

At the risk of blowing my own trumpet, by most measures I am an pretty competent rider. The dirty, steep, fast, natural feeling technical trails of the Tweed Valley and my native Peak District are my favourite type of riding, and I feel I am pretty good at it. Even in Morzine, after a bit of advice from the locals I met, I was soon slithering down some extremely sketchy off piste, which was great! I love Revolution Bikepark (see, told its not bikeparks per se!) because although they have some incredibly big jumps on some trails, they also have some black runs of breathtaking rawness, gradient and technicity. I bloody love that place! But in more standard offer bikeparks, blue is where I live. Floaty tabletop Dad Jumps (tm), flowy singletrack, no massive features. That's where I am comfortable.

I had a go at the reds under Pleney lift, but just like the reds at Bike Park Wales, they offer me no more nourishment than blues or greens from a technical difficulty perspective. No tricky sections to pick my way down, requiring accuracy, fingertip brake control and good line choice in raw dirt and root. For the most part they were the same as the blues except steeper in places and with considerably larger jumps, in which I have little interest and even less skill to dispense. And they are BUMPY! Generally horrendously braking bumpy, for bike parks are busy, and the reds are busiest trails of all. It's a style of trail that I find difficult to enjoy.

I suspect there's an element of how long I've been doing this in how I feel about super fast jumpy tracks, as I've never been excited by doing jumps, so the juice isn't worth the squeeze for me in terms of perceived risk. I just thought it was interesting to finally admit to myself that on modern style tracks, I am fine with the blues. I guess it's a sign of how broad and diverse our sport has got too, as the massive growth of enduro shows there's still a massive appetite for a more natural approach to trails.

So, don't be disheartened if you're not into FULL SEND, there is still plenty of offer with bike parks if you dial the ego back a bit, and just go with the flow on the lower grade trails. I'm all for a bit of progression, but it's supposed to be fun too!

Anachronism

One anomoly - some might say anachronism - I did find was La Noir at Pleney. Some 20 years ago i visited this area in 2000 and 2001 with a bunch of guys i met at uni, and still ride with to this day. Riding was progressed, DH bikes were broken, fear was smelt, brakes were melted, and a lot of Dianese body armour was worn. Back then even full DH tracks didn't tend to have enormous features in them - they were a little more raw and natural. In fact, it was the development and addition of these bigger jumps and gaps that finally put paid to me DH racing, not long after that 2001 trip.

The one run I loved more than any other was the Avalanche Cup track at Pleney in Morzine. It was just enough above my paygrade to massively improve my riding, but being 20 years ago it didn't have huge gaps and senders. It did feature the infamous 10 Percenter chute, which was properly nerve shredding back in the day.

I was looking for this track on this trip, but hadn't gone near the black run for fear of simply even more massive jumps I wouldn't/couldn't do. However, a bit of research suggested that if you stuck to certain options down La Noir, it was indeed the track from back in the day. So, with a little trepidation I dropped in, and you know what? It was awesome! Almost unchanged in terms of route, much more natural feeling, still featuring the mighty 10 Percenter (in horrendously chopped up condition). I even vaguely remembered which way it went! So not all bikepark blacks are built equal, especially not ones with a 20 year history.

There were differences - for a start I was entirely happy riding it in regular riding gear with no more than kneepads and a helmet for protection, and the bike I was riding was infinitely more capable of covering this terrain safely at high speed, despite being entirely suitable to pedalling back to the top should I have so wished. Below is my helmet cam if you're vaguely interested in a middle aged Dad riding down a mountain in France. Hopefully it will bring back happy memories for anyone who was there back in the day.

As all of this was turning over in my head, and my buddies from those first trips were messaging me with their memories, I realised there was also a nice symmetry : 20 years ago I was riding a Raleigh DHO bike, made in the UK out of Reynolds 853, with around 160mm travel. Today I was riding my RocketMAX: Made in the UK out of Reynolds 853, with around 160mm travel. Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose.

Cheers,

Cy